Hostel Review: The Nook Hostel, Sao Miguel

We stayed in the Nook Hostel for five nights and each one was an absolute pleasure. Fresh sheets, snuggly blankets, spacious dorms, a fully equipped kitchen and rockin’ staff, Ricardo and Diogo. For hostel living it doesn’t get much better than this.

Eat

Breakfast in the morning is complimentary and is your standard hostel breakfast with ham, cheese, fresh bread, brewed coffee and cereal. Local tea is also available on request.

The kitchen is fully equipped, and unlike a lot of hostels, is kept immaculate with all utensils in working order. Can we get a round of applause for knives that are sharp enough to actually cut things and cutting boards that aren’t sprouting mould? We cooked most nights during our time on Sao Miguel – there’s a fruit shop and a SPAR within five minutes on foot, much more if you’re willing to head to the mall approximately 15 minutes away.

There was also a shelf containing rice, spices, oil, etc left by previous visitors available for everyone’s use, meaning you won’t need to buy a bottle of olive oil for your two night stay. Someone better be loving our ketchup right now because it was damn hard to leave behind!

The Nook is also a few minutes walk from the main strip of restaurants on the harbour plus a number of smaller cafes. Seriously, no chance you’ll go hungry here.

Hang Out

If you need help planning your holiday, you’re in the right place – both Ricardo and Diogo who looked after us during our stay were really helpful with their personal recommendations for Sao Miguel. Much appreciated after staying in hostels where front office staff were barely able to point you in the direction of the laundromat, let alone give a crap about your plans for the day.

The Nook Hostel has a sweet little common room, again always super clean with personal touches that make you feel right at home. Bathrooms were pristine and the ratio of showers to people is en pointe.

The wi-fi connection was epic and never ever dropped out. Perfect for streaming a movie after a 10 km hike or bragging about canyoning, checking out waterfalls or whale watching etc on Instagram. All in a day on Sao Miguel.

Sleep

Now here’s the good shit. You can treat yourself with self-contained private rooms, but even the shared rooms here are spacious – only four beds (two sets of bunk beds) per room. The Nook definitely doesn’t compromise on comfort – the sheets are fresh to death, the blankets are the snuggly ones you find at your grandma’s and there’s plenty of room for activities with large free lockers to store all your valuables.

We were lucky enough to have two nights to ourselves, but even when there were other people in the room we slept like babies. This is pretty phenomenal for Nat in a shared space (not for me, I could sleep through a tornado) and it meant we were good to go each morning as well.

Repeat?

Absolutely – we would love to get back to Sao Miguel one day, and if we make it back we will be 100 per cent staying at The Nook. Take us back already!

Any Cons?

It was likely bad timing, but we didn’t find our fellow travellers super chatty or sociable. Could have been because it was mostly couples and groups of friends. Combine this with language barriers and you’ve got a recipe for a few quiet nights. Don’t get us wrong, these nights of rest weren’t unwelcome and were probably just what we needed to make the most of the daylight but if you’re looking to get loose/a party hostel (and if you are, may we suggest you head to Lisboa or Lagos) then don’t count on it here unless you bring your own crew to get down with.

We mentioned this to Diogo before leaving and he agreed, saying the mood of the hostel after the sun goes down really depends on its clientele at the time – which is true of any hostel, in any city across the world anyway!

The Nook Hostel Stats

Take a walk through the hostel here. You can also check out more rooms in more detail here. We can say hands on heart these videos and pics are 100 per cent representative of what The Nook Hostel looks like in reality.

Insider Tips

Make sure you contact The Nook prior to your arrival and let them know what time you’ll be checking in. We did this as we were arriving around midnight and hostel owner Ricardo literally opened the door for us as we rolled up. Service with a smile!

If you’re needing a car throughout your stay which we strongly suggest, get in touch with The Nook who can arrange this for you in advance. Ricardo pulled some strings last minute (we forgot to press send on our email, doh) to have a car dropped us and picked up from The Nook for us. Your car will get dropped off at around 9.30 am in the morning and picked up at 6.00 pm in the evening at the latest. So convenient!

Getting to and from the airport here is easy. €5 return on the Aerobus or if you’re travelling with more than one person, go for the most convenient options and grab a cab for €10 one-way. If you have an early return flight, don’t forget to arrange your return journey the day before with The Nook team to avoid any late night/early morning panic.